The 2020 U.S. presidential election has become a tense showdown, with incumbent President Donald Trump claiming victory and “fraud” as Democrats insist uncounted ballots in crucial swing states can still put their candidate, Joe Biden, in the White House.
President Donald Trump has won the key battleground states of Ohio, Florida and Texas and holds leads in all the others but Arizona as former Vice President Joe Biden’s path to victory narrowed.
Trump so far has been declared the winner in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Biden won California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
In remarks at the White House, Trump alleged that there was a “major fraud” in ongoing counting of votes and vowed to mount a legal challenge.
The remarks came after Twitter restricted his post with the same allegation and warned users it might be misleading.
For weeks, former Vice President Biden had a wide lead in the national polls, with narrower advantages in key battleground states. But just as he did in 2016, Trump defied predictions, holding red states across the Rust Belt, as well as the major battlegrounds of Florida and Ohio.
In the White House remarks, Trump claimed that he had won in several states, including Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, where votes were still being counted.
He alleged that election officials had halted vote counting in Pennsylvania until this morning, saying it was “an embarrassment to our country.
“We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,” he said, and pledged to challenge the issue in court. Earlier, the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, urged his supporters to be patient, saying he believed he was on track to victory.
We believe we’re on track to win this election,” he said, citing Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan where counting was still ongoing.
“It’s not over until every vote is counted,” he said from his hometown in Wilmington, Delaware.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, at least 101 million Americans cast ballots before Election Day, compared to 47 million in 2016, according to the US Elections Project. The 2020 turnout is shaping up to be the highest in a presidential election since 1908.
